Our newest blog is here to welcome a wonderful equipe member to our staff. Many of you already know Katharine McCallum and have taken some classes that she has led, but for those of you who do not, we are sure you will love her as much as we do!

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Katharine spent the first 18 years of her life surrounded by familiar faces. Going to school, socializing and dancing and with the same group of people, she knew that the time to spread her wings was fast approaching. It was time to leave and that calling came by way of the University of Mississippi.

“I loved the SEC school experience” Katharine states, as she thrived at Ole Miss, receiving a degree in both history and education. “I wanted to teach history as my dad is a history professor and I just loved hearing his stories and was fascinated by it all.” (small fact: her parents own llamas as well as property in the Bahamas… I know…it rhymes.)

The short path of growth as a teacher and hopes to stretch her wings in a greater capacity led her to veer away from teaching full time and take the LSAT, pursuing a law degree. This opportunity was a great chance to follow her dream of living in California and Santa Clara University was the landing spot for this adventurous Texan.

The grind of law school has its obvious challenges and, in the summer of 2018, Katharine was enduring what most do in the academic cauldron but decided to take matters into her own hands. “I was very stressed so I looked up yoga studios nearby and up came labarre!” She was able to go to a Signature class and simply fell in love with it. Upon meeting the owner and founder, Lisa Alberino, a connection was made and Katharine was asked if she’d like to work at the studio and the rest is history.

Being in front of the class and teaching was not a difficult leap as Katharine previously taught dance for 8 years and already had a comfort teaching in the fitness realm. Musicality and ease of routine came natural to her. The arduous part of the process was understanding the anatomical and science terminology. “I had very supportive friends from law school help me along the way and my certification process, of course, happened during my law school finals! That was hard as I was getting up at 6am to study, teaching class at 7am, going to the library all day long and then teaching a class 8pm and then taking a final somewhere in there as well! My friends were supportive and they came to every single one of the classes and, come to think of it, I should really thank them for being so caring.”

Katharine is full pf personality and says with a smile, “I would color myself as a pretty energetic and loud person but I really try and push my classes as hard as I think the guests can handle being pushed. I like to put in as much cardio as I can and keep people moving in class. Barre offers so much and I don’t want to do my guests a disservice … I want to keep their heart rates up and keep the blood pumping.”

Off the studio floor Katharine is equally as dynamic as she is when she is leading classes. Multi-talented and clearly cerebral, Katharine loves to write and does so regularly for the Santa Clara Law School paper. She is an active teacher of not only barre but also in the field of academics. She works on the ASP (Academic Success Program) which is a fancy word for tutoring and guiding students as they navigate the turbulent waters of Santa Clara’s law program. Scuba, surfing, she does that, too! After all of this, Katharine also knows how to dial it down and does so by enjoying her favorite show, Grey’s Anatomy (and she is proud to say she never misses an episode!)

Please help us welcome Katharine to the labarre family and find time to get to know her by taking one of her classes!